Second tug arrives to tow disabled cruise ship

More than 3,000 passengers on the Carnival Triumph will be sent to Progreso, Mexico, and flown home from there.

Photo By Lt. Cmdr. Paul McConnell/HO

A small boat from the Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous patrols near the cruise ship Carnival Triumph.

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UPDATE: The Coast Guard tells The Associated Press that a second tug boat has reached a disabled cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico and is helping tow it to Mobile, Ala.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Brahm in Houston says the ship was about 270 miles south of Mobile as of Tuesday morning. It is expected to arrive there Thursday, AP reports.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The second of two tugboats tasked with towing the disabled Carnival Triumph was scheduled to arrive at the cruise ship's site in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday and help direct it to an Alabama port, cruise officials said.

The 4,200 passengers and crew of the ship were initially set to arrive in Galveston Monday morning, but instead spent the last two days drifting aimlessly in the Gulf waiting for rescue after a fire erupted in an engine room Sunday morning. The fire knocked out the ship's propulsion system.

No injuries were reported.

The two tugboats, one from Mobile, Ala., and another from Mexico, were scheduled to began pulling the Triumph on Monday evening to Progreso, Mexico, the closest port.

But the ship had drifted about 90 miles north due to strong currents, cruise officials said Monday, That meant Mobile was just as close and with the current.

Mobile also provides simpler re-entry, officials said, noting that 900 passengers do not have passports.

The ship had been dead in the water at least 150 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula since the fire erupted. The ship's extinguishing systems stifled the fire.

The Triumph has been using its backup generator and passengers have had limited access to bathrooms, food and hot coffee since the engine failure.

Sunday afternoon, another cruise ship, the Carnival Elation, supplied dinners to the Triumph and Carnival Legend did the same on Monday. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous provided assistance early Monday morning.

The team on board has slowly been restoring auxiliary power to operate basic hotel functions. Public and cabin toilets are operational and some power has been restored to a few elevators and in a dining area.

Cruise officials said Carnival Triumph guests will receive a full refund of the cruise, along with transportation expenses. They will also receive a cruise credit equal to the amount paid for the current voyage, including reimbursement for most shipboard purchases during the voyage.

Triumph voyages scheduled for Feb. 11 and Saturday were canceled. Those guests will receive a full refund and a 25 percent discount on a future three to five-day cruise.

A similar situation occurred on a Carnival cruise ship in November 2010. That was also stranded for three days with 4,500 people aboard after a fire in the engine room. When the passengers disembarked in San Diego they described a nightmarish three days in the Pacific with limited food, power and bathroom access.